Do school inspections improve learning?

Why inspections should be replaced by a focus on School Improvement and High Quality Teaching and Learning.....

It is reported that Ofsted needs "a big change" and inspectors should not be having direct contact with schools, an inquiry has said.

The "Beyond Ofsted inquiry", chaired by former schools minister Lord Jim Knight and funded by the National Education Union, called for a "transformational" alteration to school inspections.

That would include scrapping one-word inspection judgements, which range from "outstanding" to "inadequate".

The death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life ahead of a school inspection report, highlighted the pressure which Ofsted inspections can put on schools.

What is Ofsted and what does it do?

Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, inspects and reports on anywhere that provides education for young people in England - including schools, nurseries and childminders and grades them, 1 - outstanding, 2 - good, 3 - requires improvement and 4 - inadequate

Recently many 'outstanding' schools were downgraded

The latest data from Ofsted shows that of the 359 outstanding schools visited between September 2022 and February 2023:

• 40% retained their status
• 50% were downgraded to good
• 10% were told they needed improvement
• 1.4% were rated inadequate

What happens during an inspection?

During an Ofsted visit - which can last up to two days - inspectors observe lessons and talk to staff and pupils.

The school is normally notified about an inspection the day before.

Schools can request to defer or cancel a visit, but only in exceptional circumstances.

Inspectors judge schools on criteria based on Ofsted's education inspection framework.

They assess a school's overall performance, the quality of education delivered, pupil behaviour and attitudes, staff personal development and the calibre of leadership and management. They also consider the effectiveness of safeguarding policies.

The final report gives the school one overall grade.

The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) says the current inspection system places "a completely unacceptable level of pressure on individual school leaders".

Why are schools downgraded?

A school can be downgraded if it fails one part of the inspection.

The 24-hour notice period places considerable pressure on leaders, teachers and the whole community, and that "every aspect of the school" is looked at in a very short period of time.

"The outcome is quite harsh," she added, since a downgrade can affect pupil numbers, school morale and have "a reputational impact".

What happens after an inspection?

A school that is graded good or outstanding will be reinspected after four years, but is also given recommendations on how it can improve in the interim.

Any school found to require improvement will receive another inspection within 30 months.

Schools that are rated inadequate become sponsored academies, and are supported by another outstanding school or charity.

Why inspections should be replaced by a focus on School Improvement and High Quality Teaching and Learning

Inspections should be focused at improving the quality of the learning environment and should be welcome by all stakeholders not feared.

School improvement should be based on developing a relationship with an external partner that drives improvement.

This will allow the school improvement partner to get to know the school’s unique areas of improvement, cultural context, setting, human potential and helps them improve.

It will allow the development a relationship with parents and pupils.

The leadership of the school will be guided and have a critical friend to support them in improving the quality of the learning environment adaptations of the curriculum, the pedagogy.

Areas of Improvement

Identification of areas of improvement will be shared and owned by the school - and importantly commendations should be celebrated as well being is important and positive feedback drives improvement

Any action plan needs to be owned by the governance and the school community

I have worked as Cchool Improvement Partner, for many years with Incyte International - worked as Director of School Improvement for 4 schools in Dubai and 7 schools in Saudi Arabia, School Improvment partner for a group of schools in Ghana - and am now a member of the Global Consulting Group.

I have also worked with KHDA, CIS, IB and Cognia.

This really works.

My proposals

I believe that every school should be responsible for its own self- evaluation and school improvement plan which involves all stakeholders, students parents, teachers, administration - everyone. They are the school - and are the ones that know how to improve it.

Schools should work with school improvement partner (SIP), who will engage in improvement in leadership and the learning environment with a focus on self-improvement,

The relationship between the school and the SIP is critical and the focus should be on building the leadership of learning capacity of the school leadership team, reviewing the vision and guiding statements and engaging school governance so that they also have the same shared contextual vision

Policies, and the effects of these policies are developed collaboratively with a focus on developing high quality teaching and learning cultures, which generate excellent professional skills and competencies,

The school improvement partner and leadership team will focus on developing teachers’ as leaders of learning - without fear creating a 'growth mindset' environment with accountability to the local community.

Total transparency of outcomes to parents and regular feedback to and from parents and pupils will help developing a long-term relationship with a focus on improvement .

Key focus

My recommendations are below:

1) Develop a school quality assurance team to clarify standards to all, including end of year curriculum expectations, what high quality teaching and learning looks like, a focus on learning without limits.... against with the school will review its progress.

2) Pupil staff mental health and wellbeing, and child protection should be a priority

3) The vision of the school, mission, values and guiding statements should be agreed and developed by the whole community

4) Every school should develop its own definition of high quality teaching and learning and particularly what effective learning looks like.

5) The validation and quality assurance should be by a school improvement partner (SIP) and a team of leaders at all levels of the school, trained to support carry our self-evaluations.

6) Weakness in the quality and capacity for self-evaluation, become areas for improvement and further support.

Transformative change is driven by school Improvement.

The school improvement partner becomes a driver of the building process developing trust, enabling all staff to grow and developing leadership at all levels - particularly self-evaluative enabling them to make personal judgements about their own professional growth based and how well all of their learners are improving.

I would be keen to hear your views...

Dr Tassos Anastasiades